FYE making a comeback?

As I'm sure many of you are aware, FYE has closed many stores over the past few years. Last March, they closed their store in the Montgomeryville Mall in the Philadelphia area. I visited that mall over the holiday, and to my surprise, they were back. The store is in a different part of the mall, and it looks a lot nicer than the old store. It is cleaner and brighter. They have a smaller music and DVD section than before and have a lot of pop-culture stuff now (T-shirts, action figures, etc.). The pop-culture items are in the front, and the music and DVDs are in the back. The store also has a new logo. Instead of the guitar pick (or whatever it is) with the "f.y.e.", the logo is three orange circles, with a letter in each one. Their web site does not show this logo. The Montgomeryville store only opened three weeks ago, so maybe they are just now transitioning to the new logo.

I went to my local FYE today to get new Bowie CD ($9.99) and was surprised to find they expanded their vinyl department even further by adding a whole aisle. Now three full aisles of vinyl. This is a lot of vinyl! Overpriced vinyl but vinyl just the same. And there was a huge portion of that vinyl that had a yellow clearance sticker. I think that meant 1/2 off but I'm not positive. They had good things on clearance like Dylan Basement Tapes Bootleg set. Half price would be $45 which would be a pretty good deal. Other clearance titles like recent Beach Boys reissues (Capitol) and the most recent Yusuf Islam album. I controlled myself, though, and left with only the Bowie CD (I have the vinyl on order from Amazon)....and the 'Popeye' soundtrack on vinyl (had the cassette when I was little, never got around to the vinyl. Still in shrink. Caldor price code R).

The other FYE stores in my area have pushed the media to the back of the store and made that section very tight and uncomfortable. This gives them more room for t-shirts and toys and other assorted junk.

As I'm sure many of you are aware, FYE has closed many stores over the past few years. Last March, they closed their store in the Montgomeryville Mall in the Philadelphia area. I visited that mall over the holiday, and to my surprise, they were back. The store is in a different part of the mall, and it looks a lot nicer than the old store. It is cleaner and brighter. They have a smaller music and DVD section than before and have a lot of pop-culture stuff now (T-shirts, action figures, etc.). The pop-culture items are in the front, and the music and DVDs are in the back. The store also has a new logo. Instead of the guitar pick (or whatever it is) with the "f.y.e.", the logo is three orange circles, with a letter in each one. Their web site does not show this logo. The Montgomeryville store only opened three weeks ago, so maybe they are just now transitioning to the new logo.

I guess "SUPER POP SHOP" encapsulates their new direction. Whatever is hip today, not just music & movies. There's only two FYEs left in the entire South Florida region, both in Palm Beach County. Neither draws even a modest crowd anymore.

We have a FYE near me in Port Charlotte. Their vinyl is limited and way overpriced. They seem to be changing by adding more shirts and non music media. When I even bother to go in, the visit usually lasts 5-10 minutes and I walk out disillusioned knowing I wasted 5-10 minutes of valuable breathing time........

I guess "SUPER POP SHOP" encapsulates their new direction. Whatever is hip today, not just music & movies. There's only two FYEs left in the entire South Florida region, both in Palm Beach County. Neither draws even a modest crowd anymore.

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Sounds like they're doing at the national level what Newbury Comics is doing locally, though Newburys focus is more on vinyl, clothes, and pop culture.

I went to my local FYE today to get new Bowie CD ($9.99) and was surprised to find they expanded their vinyl department even further by adding a whole aisle. Now three full aisles of vinyl. This is a lot of vinyl! Overpriced vinyl but vinyl just the same. And there was a huge portion of that vinyl that had a yellow clearance sticker. I think that meant 1/2 off but I'm not positive. They had good things on clearance like Dylan Basement Tapes Bootleg set. Half price would be $45 which would be a pretty good deal. Other clearance titles like recent Beach Boys reissues (Capitol) and the most recent Yusuf Islam album. I controlled myself, though, and left with only the Bowie CD (I have the vinyl on order from Amazon)....and the 'Popeye' soundtrack on vinyl (had the cassette when I was little, never got around to the vinyl. Still in shrink. Caldor price code R).

The other FYE stores in my area have pushed the media to the back of the store and made that section very tight and uncomfortable. This gives them more room for t-shirts and toys and other assorted junk.

When visiting Philadelphia recently, I was surprised to learn there is a still-open FYE store Center City on Broad Street, a few blocks away from the Courthouse. That's
the kind of thing I wasn't expecting to see anymore.

I guess "SUPER POP SHOP" encapsulates their new direction. Whatever is hip today, not just music & movies. There's only two FYEs left in the entire South Florida region, both in Palm Beach County. Neither draws even a modest crowd anymore.

Yes, we have one just like you described here in Ahmerst, NY. Just like you said, they closed and moved to a different location in the mall with an all new look. Action toys, t-shirts, vinyls, CD's & DVD's. They had some deal on cheap turntables if you bought some records. I was in there at Christmas and there was a good crowd.

FYE in Auburn, MA is the closest record store to me. Mine sells vinyl now but I'm a cd guy. Very well operated store, but they keep shrinking the cd section. I hope they succeed as a brand though. Their used prices are very competitive.

The Crossgates Mall store referenced by The Zodiac upthread closed months ago (in April, I think) and reopened in a different part of the mall; smaller and more focus on toys and T-shirts, with LPs, CDs and DVDs in the back. I still go in but only if I'm in the mall for something else, which is rare.

They closed a very large number of stores in MA over the past decade. Now there are very few left, and none close to Boston. They also closed all the Strawberry's locations that they purchased--many of which were located in MA, and some of which were superstore sized.

Looks like maybe five left in a state that was once overrun by their presence...

The Coconuts (which is essentially an FYE) near me finally closed this year, which was definitely a long time coming. It was kind of sad watching it devolve over the last 15 years or so, as I shopped there all the time in high school and college. They began stocking vinyl a few years ago in an attempt to keep up with the trends, but the selection was such a mess: just random mixes of new and used records crammed into the bins with little care. Overpriced too.

I think making room for shirts, toys, and knick-knacks is a necessity for a lot of record stores these days. It allows them to diversify their inventory and offer some physical impulse buys that can't just be downloaded. Book stores here have been doing the same thing for years.

I saw a new FYE in the mall, the other day. Mostly toys and trinkets, now. The DVD and music sections were a joke.

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Yeah, I was at Annapolis Mall with a friend the other day, and I didn't even bother to go into the FYE there. Every once in a while I find a gem in the used CD section, but it's needle in a haystack territory and not worth the effort most of the time...

Yeah, I was at Annapolis Mall with a friend the other day, and I didn't even bother to go into the FYE there. Every once in a while I find a gem in the used CD section, but it's needle in a haystack territory and not worth the effort most of the time...

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My son was going to ice skating lessons at the Kettler arena and below it is a mall with a Fyes... I kid you know when I say I must of gone there with him after his skating about 10 times and never found anything....it was so frustrating cause I wanted to find something